The Governor of the State of Florida is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch, and the highest state office in Florida. The governor is elected by popular election every four years, and may serve a maximum of two terms in a row. There is no lifetime limit on the number of times he or she may be elected, but a governor who has been elected to two consecutive terms must be out of office for at least one election cycle before being eligible once again for re-election.

Current officeholder

Before becoming governor, Scott ran Solantic Corporation, a network of Florida urgent care centers, which he co-founded in 2001. From 1997 to 2001, he owned a controlling share in America's Health Network, a media company later known as Discovery Health. He previously headed Columbia Hospital Corporation, a conglomeration of 340 hospitals, from its founding in 1987 to 1997. Scott holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University. He and his wife, Ann, have two daughters.[1]

(b) When elected, the governor, lieutenant governor and each cabinet member must be an elector not less than thirty years of age who has resided in the state for the preceding seven years. The attorney general must have been a member of the bar of Florida for the preceding five years. No person who has, or but for resignation would have, served as governor or acting governor for more than six years in two consecutive terms shall be elected governor for the succeeding term.

Elections

Florida elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not Presidential election years. For Florida, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the gubernatorial inauguration is always set for the first Tuesday after the first Monday in the January following an election. Thus, January 4, 2011 and January 6, 2015 are inaugural days. The procedures for electing Florida's governor is laid out in Article IV, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution.

Vacancies

Whenever the governor is unable or unwilling to discharge the office, either temporarily or permanently, the lieutenant governor takes over all the duties of the governorship either until the governor is able to resume the office or until the next election.

At any time that the governor is on trial for impeachment, the lieutenant governor becomes the Acting Governor.

Additionally, at any time that three members of the cabinet and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court agree on the governor's mental or physical unfitness for office, they may suspend and reinstate the governor, pursuant to § 3.

Duties

The Governor of Florida is the chief executive of Florida, and serves as chairman of the Florida cabinet. The governor has the power to execute Florida's laws and to call out the state militia to preserve the public peace, being Commander-in-Chief of the state's military forces that are not in active service of the United States. At least once every legislative session, the governor is required to deliver an address to the Florida Legislature, referred to as the "State of the State Address", regarding the condition and operation of the state government and to suggest new legislation. These primary duties are laid out in § 1 (a).

Additionally, the governor may initiate judicial action against state, county, or municipal officer to enforce compliance with law and the duties of the individual's office, may request opinions and interpretations of constitutional matters from the members of the Florida Supreme Court, and may fill all vacancies in elected and appointed office where the law does not otherwise prescribe the method.

In March 2012, the Florida Legislature passed legislation that expanded the powers of the governor to include more oversight over agency rulemaking, members of local jobs agencies, and the distribution of money used to recruit new business to relocate to Florida.[2]

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

assigning official duties to the lieutenant governor, in addition to those set forth by law (§ 2).

casting a tie breaking vote when needed in Cabinet matters

under § 4 (e), sitting as Chair of the State Board of Administration, pursuant to Article IX, Section 16 of the Constitution of 1885, and which shall continue as a body at least for the life of Article XII, Section 9(c).

under § 4 (f), sitting as Chair of the trustees of the internal improvement trust fund and the land acquisition trust fund

under § 4 (g),sitting as agency Chair of the Department of Law Enforcement

suspending and reinstating all officers, including militia officers, for any reason related to neglect, incompetence, or inability of fulfill duties; the exception applies in cases of impeachment (§ 7).

excepting cases of treason and impeachment, suspend fines and grant reprieves, pardons, and clemency; by himself, the governor may suspend a fine for up to 60 days. For more substantial matters, two cabinet matters must concur (§ 8).

cooperating with the cabinet, making all necessary budget reductions in the event of a revenue shortfall (§ 13).

History

Partisan balance 1992-2013

From 1992-2013, in Florida there were Democratic governors in office for 7 years while there were Republican governors in office for 14 years. Florida was under Republican trifectas for the last three years of the study period.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

SQLI and partisanship

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Florida state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied. For the SQLI, the states were ranked from 1-50, with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. During the years studied, Florida achieved place in the top-10 in only one year (2007). The state had one Democratic trifecta in 1992, while it has had a Republican trifecta for a total of fourteen years. Florida’s most precipitous drop in the SQLI ranking occurred between 2007 and 2008, when the state dropped from 8th to 19th. Florida also experienced a significant drop in the ranking between 2009 and 2010.

SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 29.00

SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 19.00

SQLI average with divided government: 29.71

Chart displaying the partisanship of Florida government from 1992-2013 and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI).

Historical officeholders

There have been 44 Governors of Florida since 1845. Of the 44 officeholders, 8 were Republican, 33 were Democrat, 1 was Whig, 1 was Democrat/Prohibition and 1 was Provisional.[6]